EXTRA practice paid off for Andrew Oldcorn yesterday when he shot a five-under 67 on the first day of the rain-hit Scottish Senior Open at St Andrews Bay.

Marc Farry of France and Swede Anders Forsbrand led the way with 66s but Oldcorn didn’t drop a shot to erase the memory of missing the cut in last month’s Senior Open at Turnberry.

The 52-year-old Scot said: “The Senior Open was as big a downer as I’ve had in my whole career. I’ve missed cuts before but what got me was how poorly I played.

“The solution was to go to King Acre in Edinburgh, where I’m attached, and put in about three hours of practice at a time. That’s a lot for me.

“I did double sessions at times and I’ve never done that before. But it was the only way to get back to where I wanted to be.”

Sharing second place in the clubhouse was England’s Carl Mason, who has won three English Senior Opens, two Welsh Senior Opens and one Irish. He said: “It would be nice to win the Scottish title and complete the set.”

The pace of play when players finally got back on course after a four-hour delay due to heavy showers was a big issue with Mason and Ian Woosnam. Both players complained about taking more than five hours for their rounds.

Irishman Des Smyth lodged an official complaint after his 68. He said: “I seem to lodge a complaint about slow play every fortnight.”